Nobody Is “Censoring” Birther Nonsense + 4 Reasons Why It’s Nonsense

The most effective form of censorship is also the quietest. It operates not by actively proscribing speech but by rendering certain topics hors de combat, literally undiscussable. It does this by propagating an atmosphere of revulsion and taboo. Ordinary censorship prohibits the dissemination of particular opinions or bits of information. The more subtle engine of silence I have in mind goes further. It stanches not only the flow of speech but also the flow of thought. Ordinary censorship occupies itself with the results of human curiosity. What I am talking about attacks human curiosity itself.

…This is something that Diana West has explored with her customary force and insightfulness in a disturbing column called “Silence of the Lapdogs.” “Have you, “ Ms. West asks,

read in your local paper about the technical evidence that led . . . three retired criminal investigators and two attorneys to conclude that the birth certificate image White House officials uploaded at the White House website on April 27, 2011, did not originate in a paper format, but rather was created (forged) as an electronic file on a computer?

Have you seen on network or cable news the video clip (one of six . . . at YouTube) re-creating exactly how an additional fraud might have been committed to forge the president’s Selective Service registration card? Heard even conservative talk radio discussing the posse’s discovery that immigration files in the National Archives recording overseas arrivals into Hawaii are missing from the week of Obama’s 1961 birthday?

The answer, as she points out, is no, of course not. You have heard nary a peep because the subjects themselves are verboten. “1984-style,” Ms West observes, “we mustn’t question. We mustn’t look. We certainly mustn’t look at questions that cross the narrative of authority.”

First of all, there are tons of conspiracy theorists and professional con men, like Joseph Farah and Jerome Corsi, that are incessantly talking about Obama’s birth certificate. Other people have long ceased talking about it for the same reason they don’t talk about the North American Union or the moon being made of green cheese: because it has been disproven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

1) Obama released his certificate of live birth.

2) In a print copy of the 1961 Honolulu Advertiser, there’s a notice that Barack Obama was born.

3) The director of Hawaii’s Department of Health has certified that Obama does have a legitimate birth certificate on file in Hawaii. The former Republican governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle, said Obama was born in Hawaii. The current governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, said Obama was born in Hawaii. In other words, the state of Hawaii has confirmed, in the most resolute way humanly possible, that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.

4) All of that apparently wasn’t enough because people kept demanding Obama’s long form birth certificate. So, Obama finally released that, too.

That’s as close to ironclad proof as you’re ever going to get. If that’s not enough to convince people, then they’re impossible to convince. So, what are we supposed to do? Should we run breathless stories every time someone claims we didn’t go to the moon or the Illuminati are really running the planet? It’s on that level of silliness now and since there is apparently no evidence that’s ever going to get through to anybody left on the birther bandwagon, it seems like a waste to keep exploring the issue.